I have to say, the timing of this book coming in the mail was beyond perfect! This week while homeschooling, we talked a little about the beach, (dreaming of warmer weather, of course). Today we had our science lesson with Mystery Science about where sand comes from.

First, let me say, if you haven’t tried or even heard of Mystery Science before – it does not disappoint! My favorite part is that it sort of gives me a break and I don’t have to do much teaching. You follow along with the videos which does all the teaching for you. There is always an activity to do after the lesson to push your understanding up the subject to a more hands on experience. We love it! They offer a very generous 1 YEAR trial, so at least give that a shot, it couldn’t hurt.

Anyways, back to our lesson and the book. Today we learned about sand, and how it was made. Now, I’ll be completely honest and tell you that I really didn’t know what sand was. Sand is just sand, right? Wrong. It’s actually tiny pieces of rock that has been crushed up and broken apart over time. Who knew?! I’m sure a lot of people do know that, but I didn’t. We also asked around our family a little to see if they knew, and they didn’t either! That’s the beauty of homeschooling – I get to learn all kinds of things too!

So while sand is mostly rocks that have been broken up through raging rivers, it is also.. fish poop. Eek gross! But there is this one fish species in particular that feeds on coral. Parrotfish live in tropical and subtropical areas where there are plenty of coral to munch on. They don’t eat coral exclusively, they also eat plankton and bacteria. But the ones that eat bits of coral, after it is digested, comes out as sand! Which helps make small islands in the pacific. Think about that when you lay on the sandy beaches of Hawaii!

Receiving this book the exact day we had our science lesson, only helped back up what I said about fish poop (they had a hard time believing me!)

It’s a wonderful book with beautiful illustrations. I have to say, picture books like this are my absolute favorite! Yes they are picture books, and they have a make believe story for young children to read – but they are also so educational. I think the girls will always remember that sand is made up of fish poop now, and rocks of course!

This is an amazing addition to our bookshelf, it is recommended for children ages 3-8, if you are interested in learning about this amazing species you can purchase with this link – *be sure to use the promo code KIDS5 at checkout for a special $5 off!